


The Godfather

by reylomami



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Godfather (1972 1974 1990)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1950s, Alternate Universe - 1960s, Ben Solo's undoing, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Godfather AU, HARDSHIP!!!, Hux is a nazi sympathiser, Mafia AU, Not so good guys, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-World War II, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, Violence, a retelling of Michael and Kay but Reylo, bad title but it's the most apt, explicit - Freeform, in which the Resistance is the Corleone family, later characters to be added, probable Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:22:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15019583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylomami/pseuds/reylomami
Summary: The Resistance is a well-established crime syndicate, that works to protect the unprotected with their thriving businesses and the approval of allies in the government. Ben Solo, returning from the war, never had plans to be a part of the corrupt scheme of things which the Resistance works by. That is until his relationships are compromised and forces him to enact revenge. A taste of satisfaction from indulging his wrath lures him to the convoluted morality of crime syndicates.Rey is made to watch the only person she’s known to care for spiral down into the pits of hell.—Loosely inspired by the story development between Michael Corleone and Kay Adams in The Godfather trilogy, but with all good things kept and should-have-beens re-written.





	1. The Wedding

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I've written this after finally watching The Godfather and I couldn't help but draw so many parallels with the dysfunctionality of the Corleone family and Michael's character development with Kylo Ren.
> 
> I've resisted posting this until it was complete, but I decided that I ought to open this up for both pleasure and critique. 
> 
> A spotify playlist is also in the works and will be put up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben does the unusual in his semi-casual, semi-serious relationship with Rey. He comes back home to his family, bringing her along to finally meet them. A new signpost in their relationship, but one that beckons danger and risk.
> 
> \---This first chapter is heavily inspired by the beginning of the first instalment of The Godfather trilogy. You will see deliberate parallels of certain scenes.

  “Do you really think they will like me?” Rey asked absentmindedly. It was the eighth time she had unthinkingly posed the question. Rey watched the row of ostentatiously large houses speed past into a blur from inside the shiny black Cadillac Fleetwood that Ben’s mother had sent for for them.

“You’re clearly not nervous,” Ben mused in good humour. “At all.” 

Rey did not show any hint of amusement however. Her lip would bruise if she did not stop nibbling onto it unconsciously. Ben took her hand and squeezed it, finally prying her attention away from her thoughts.

“I don’t think they’ll like you,” he said, almost a little too frankly. Rey’s face fell a bit. “They’ll _love_ you.”

This had seemed to do the trick. The treasured dimples he grew to love appeared on Rey’s cheeks and he took it as a sign to lean in and peck her sweetly on the lips. 

“You spoil me with your kindness.”

“Will you get tired of it?”

“Never.”

When they arrived, Rey was taken aback by the largeness of the compound. Ben had merely described the Solo House as a humble abode in a quaint street. But right before her was no humble abode. Before her stood a mansion, with a guarded gate entrance patrolled by Resistance men. The only sign of humility the house manifested were in its dull colours, brightened by a garden that was evidently taken care of by a passionate family member, not an external gardener. 

“This was where you grew up?”

“From when I was 11 onwards,” Ben corrected as he helped her out of the car. “My folks had to labor their way to give us this.”

Rey wrapped her arm around his lower back as they made their way to the backyard where the party noises came from. “They love you a lot, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they do.” Ben slung an arm around her shoulder. “They really do.”

 

* * *

  

“Ah! She’s a beauty!” Leia Organa-Solo cried in sheer pleasure. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you, Rey.”

Ben, who was sipping on his glass of wine, watched in amusement as his mother engulfed Rey in her signature hug - the one she reserved for family only. Rey caught his eye and returned an equally amused grin at him before turning her attention back to the warm woman before her.

“Me too, it’s really great to finally meet you, ma’am.”

“Leia, please. Call me Leia.” 

Rey nodded abashedly, before being drawn in for another tight hug.

Ben took Rey by her side when he thought the two women have had enough and gave a cursory glance around. “Where’s Dad?”

“Oh, he’s inside his study. Your Uncle Lando decided to corner him to talk business today - and you know how irresistible the man can be. Your father had been waiting outside before though, where all the celebration is, just for you, you know.”

“We’ll see him eventually.” Ben took another sip. “Thanks, Mom - I’ll go introduce Rey to the rest.”

“Of course, of course - your brother will be delighted to see you guys. Have fun you two.” 

Leia’s attention fleeted almost immediately to an old friend who had passed by from behind. The young, infatuated couple took it as their queue to join the rest of the wedding celebration.

“You never told me you had a brother,” Rey said benignly as she took Ben’s arm.

“I don’t,” Ben said, almost a little too easily for Rey’s liking. The latter pressed on in silence regardless, bending her head against his shoulder momentarily. 

“Biologically-speaking, I don’t,” he clarified. “The Resistance functions like a family. And in it, I have a band of brother-in-arms that I pledge allegiance to, as they do me.”

Rey had nothing coherent to say about his answer, so she decided she was content with it for the time. They were at a wedding reception, not in the confines of their dingy hotel room, lying under the dim lights, on a pair of twin beds pushed together.

“Look, there’s the new Mr and Mrs Dameron. Let’s go say hi.” 

Ben Solo’s promise held through. The introductions were nothing but warm and almost loving to Rey. She was welcomed into the Resistance Family with wide warms. The groom, Poe Dameron, one of Ben’s closest brothers, could have passed off as tipsy for his enthusiasm at finally meeting ‘Solo’s girl’. 

“He never brought a girl once to us,” Poe had said to Rey while they were clearly within Ben’s earshot. “You must be proud. You might just be the undoing of our boy here.”

Poe left a stunned and bashful Rey to return to his new wife. It was not like the newlyweds were never by each other’s sides for the whole of the event. In turn, she went back to Ben’s side, the same amused grin plastered on her face.

“What did the little rascal tell you now?”

Rey shook her head as Ben leaned over to kiss the crown of her forehead. “Nothing you don’t already know.” She met his hand on her cheek. Secretly, she prided in the moment. Ben had never mentioned family throughout their courtship. It had only been the previous week when he came over and anxiously brought up the wedding invitation. A signal telling her that they were getting quite serious.

The band started playing a fine Motown tune. Rey, clearly intrigued, tugged on his hand. 

“Rey … “

“It’s a family wedding. We should enjoy ourselves.”

“I don’t really like dancing.”

“ _I_ do.”

When Ben didn’t bulge while maintaining their gaze, Rey tried once more. Very gently, she took his chin and said, “Please?”

It had done the trick. She was to be his undoing.

“Alright, alright.”

 

* * *

 

When Han Solo and Lando Calrissian emerged from the house, back into the celebration, Leia had summoned them to wait at the side of the make-shift dance floor. She sent C3-PO to fetch the young couple while she looked on at them dotingly. The young couple danced gaily in their own universe.

The crowd was impossible to get through. Rey and Ben were pressed together with arms lovingly encircling each other by the time C3-PO reached them. 

“Ah, you two. Your father’s here for you.”

With a quick glance at each other, Ben reassuringly squeezed Rey’s hand as he led her out of the crowd to the periphery where his parents and uncle stood.

“Son.”

“Dad.”

“It’s very good to see you alive and well.” Han encircled Ben in his arms. From behind, Rey had put two and two together to figure out that Ben had not returned to his family at all ever since he came back from the war. 

The younger Solo was the first to break away from the contact. “Dad, I want you to meet Rey.” He stepped a little to the side so as to not block his girl from sight. 

Han Solo was definitely smitten on the spot. “Why, why, why - alive and well, and now you bring a girl. My luck is ringin’. Good to meet you, Rey. I’m glad my son brought you over.”

Rey shook the senior’s hand with as much firmness she could equal. Han had clasped her hand with his other, as if still amazed by her existence. “I’m glad too, sir - your son’s been nothing but a sweetheart to me. Must’ve gotten it from such a charming family.”

“A dazzler, both in and out?” The other man, Lando, had interjected. “By God, Solo Junior struck gold. Nice catch, boy.”

“Actually, Uncle _Lando_ ,” Ben subtly introduced as he touched the crook of his own tie. “I didn’t catch Rey. Rey caught me.”

Leia seemed amused at this, while the two alpha men watched him in confusion. 

“She caught me from hitting the floor in a fatal fall while drunk,” he recounted without a hint of embarrassment. “It pissed her off but still, she nursed me when my no-good drunkard friends couldn’t.”

“You?” Leia pointedly looked at Rey. Han’s face was not any different. “For a petite girl like you, you caught this giant of a boy?”

The elderly laughed and Rey decided to go along with it and shrug as if it had been nothing. The truth was that Ben had toppled over her, bringing her down with him in his inebriated state. They needed the help of a few other drunkards to shift Ben aside from her, but there was no need to divulge on those details to his folks. 

“Will you be staying around Ben?” Han later asked. Seeing the two Solos next to each other was a sight to behold. 

The younger of the two shook his head a little too casually. “No, not at the house. But we’ll be around town for a couple of days.”

Ben’s answer seemed to have disappointed his parents a little. Rey intervened as such. “Too chicken to show me those baby pictures?”

“Oh I’ll show ‘em to you,” Leia said. “I could show ‘em to you, right now.”

This alarmed Ben who almost gagged from sipping on his drink. “No, no.” The group looked on at him expectantly. “Let me do it myself.”

* * *

 

 

“ - And that’s me with my grandfather.”

Rey looked on at the picture frame on the fireplace with what may have been the third surprise since their arrival. “You never said your grandfather was Anakin _Skywalker_.”

Ben shoved his hands into his pockets as he bent down to further inspect the picture. He was a chubby toddler, firmly placed on the lap of his stern-looking grandfather. 

He shrugged, nonchalantly. “Well, you never asked.”

“The topic never came up, Ben.”

“What difference would it have made if you had known?”

Rey took a step back and refused to show any hint of disappointment. Her time with Ben had been the most blissful time she ever had and he brought in a new wave of meaning and joy into her life. It was only unsettling to her that she was just finding out finer details about the charming man who peppered her with naked kisses and wrote to her devotedly at that moment.

“Rey,” Ben sighed, reaching a loose hand out to her. “What’s the matter?”

She took his hand obligingly and shook her head with a small smile. “Nothing. I feel really great that you brought me here, Ben.”

“But?”

“ _But,_ ” she continued hesitantly. He was not going to let her go so easily. “It confuses me to understand why you’ve never brought up your family once before.”

Ben opened his mouth to speak but Rey cut him off.

“All this while, I thought you were broken and alone, just like _me_. And that we were happy because we had each other and that was enough - “

“ - It _is_ enough, sweetheart - “

“ - Ben, you know how I’ve always longed for a family. It perturbs me to think that it almost feels like you never brought them up because you don’t love them.”

Ben frowned a little at this. “No, you misunderstand. I love them -a lot, Rey.”

“But?”

“ _But_ ,” he drawled. “We’re just different. I don’t fit in with them as much as they’d like.”

Rey paused at this. “Well - do you want to fit in with them?”

Ben pondered over her question for a moment. “If I do, I don’t think you’ll like me.”

His answer baffled her evidently. Rey stepped up towards him and kissed him on the cheek. “I like them. Why wouldn’t I like you?”

She made to pull away but Ben kept her proximity with a hand on her back. The other hand tended to graze her jaw reflectively. For the length of time that they have been together, he understood that it was only starting to dawn unto Rey that she needed to know more about him. Long gone were the days of reckless love-making and lazy Tuesdays together. He brought her to his home, to his family - and it was only fair that he fill in the gaps that he had carefully omitted about himself all this time.

“Alright, what else would you like to know?”

Rey circled her arms around his neck, as his snaked around her waist. They gazed at each other’s eyes for the longest time, waiting for Rey to make up her mind.

“Tell me your fondest memories with your mother.”

 

* * *

The wedding celebrations did not seem to abate at all by the time Rey and Ben reappeared from inside the house. They continued the conversation as they seated on a table under a family tree. It had a good view of the festive crowd.

“Have I mentioned how nice your sun hat looks by the way?” Ben mentioned out of the blue when they fell into peaceful silence amidst the raucous festivities.

Rey rolled her eyes and shyly readjusted the sun hat that she had put on the moment they got outside. 

“Are you trying to get something out from me?”

She knew that he knew she was teasing. Yet, he played along. With a smug look, Ben reclined back on his seat and nudged her crossed ankle with his. He held her gaze from the shadows of her sun hat. Without a word, he slowly looked down to the juncture of his dark slacks. He knew Rey’s eyes would follow suit, and when it did, she averted her gaze immediately, not before widening in horror. Her dignity as a woman affronted,Rey turned away with her face beet red at his doing.

“You’re despicable.” 

This elicited a deep laughter which Ben tried to suppress by pursing his lips. Rey did not give him the satisfaction of her doting attention and kept her gaze on the dancing crowd. At this, Ben leaned forward to stroke her exposed ankle in consolation. “I’m just teasing, babe …“

“J.J. Binks!” The piercing shriek of a bedazzled woman from afar caught both their attentions. 

Arriving at the wedding reception was a familiar, famous face that had charmed the country into a crippled state with his crooning music and too slick for good hair. Soon enough, the reception crowd had emptied the dance floor to gather around the celebrity as they followed him to meet the newlyweds.

“You guys _know_ J.J. Binks?” Rey asked. Her brows were raised in incredulity, as if Ben’s family stories had not been enough. The two did not leave their spot on the shaded table and watched the chaos from afar.

“Yeah. He’s a close friend of my grandfather’s.” Ben answered, their gaze still not peeling away from the star as he started to sing into the mic in honour of the new couple.

“How’d they meet?”

“Oh, you know - _favours_ …” Ben finally craned his neck to turn back to Rey and light himself a cigarette. “My grandfather helped him with his career. Discovered him basically, and encouraged him to pursue a career in entertainment."

Intrigued, and forgetting about Ben’s mischief, Rey prodded, “How did he do that?”

At this, Ben visibly hesitated. He took his cigarette out and dabbed it on the ashtray, avoiding her curious eyes. “Anakin made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” The use of the legend’s name should have warned her what was coming but she was too blinded by her innocence and naivety to catch it.

“And what was that?”

Ben crossed his legs, as if suddenly entertained by the speck on his shiny Italian shoes. “He held a gun to J.J.’s head to sign a contract with Bardotta Records.” 

The macabre words tumbled out of his lips too smoothly. Ben had to will himself not to flinch. He finally brought his fullest attention to Rey, ignoring how her intrigued, almond eyes steeled before him. He carried on, mustering as much coolness that his brothers have been able to achieve when talking business. 

“With the contract paper outstretched in front of him, Anakin gave him the ultimatum. Either his brains or his signature be on it.” 

Ben took another smoke, breaking the eye contact instantly. He was not in the mood to reflect on what Rey’s impression of this new information could be.

Rey’s mind seemed to be clicking away. She was piecing the fragments of information he had given to her internally. For all the time he avoided the topic of his family as much as he loved them, there was reason for the omission. 

“And this Is your family business?” She asked very carefully, breaking the tense silence between them finally. 

“It’s a fucking crime syndicate, Rey. _Jesus_.” The strained outburst was uncalled for, but Ben could not take another minute. Sure, Rey needed the time to process the truth he was unraveling to her - but the agony of knowing what the end result could be was killing him. 

In response, Rey took his hand from across the small garden table. Her resolute gaze on him willed him to look back at her. His stubbornness refused. 

Just then, from the corner, a group of relatives were overheard comparing their performance at the local shooting range. Had it not been for what she just heard, Rey would have dismissed it as casual recreational activities. But from what little she was told, she knew enough already to infer that a trip to the shooting range was not recreational for the Skywalker-Solo family. 

“That’s my family, Rey. It’s not me,” he finally said, very quietly. His eyes have not returned to hers just yet.

“I know.”

Two words was all it took to bring Ben back to her. She felt a squeeze of the hand in return and she smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do let me know what you think in the comments, if there is anything I should improve upon before releasing the subsequent chapters over the next couple of days!
> 
> Thank you :)
> 
> x


	2. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amidst their familiarity and comfort with each other, the murkiness of Ben Solo's family business starts to become a wedge in their relationship. Rey recognises her need for answers, but there's only so much she could get out of him at one go.
> 
> Also, a look at Rey and Ben in their most intimate, lost in nothing but the purity of their feelings. ---Based on a deleted scene in the original movie.

“We should’ve gone back to the hotel,” Ben grumbled against the damp crook of her neck, hilt-deep inside her.

 Rey rolled her eyes. “It’s not _that_ bad.”  

It was the night of Christmas and Leia had practically begged her son to stay in the house. She explained Christmas with the family was not the same if everyone was not sleeping under the same roof for the night. Ben was adamant about going back to the hotel room which they have long abandoned: the one with the twin beds pushed together so he and Rey could be in each other’s arms. 

But Rey, being Rey, bent at Leia’s will. She wanted a proper family experience and recognised the invitation as an opportunity for her depraved childhood. It had not mattered that the couple was not allowed to sleep in the same room - a conservative Catholic practice that was incongruent with the nature of the family ‘business’. To be surrounded by a mother and a father, and relatives who had prepared gifts for one another was what mattered to Rey. 

So when the house fell into deep silence after the gift-exchange, Ben had creeped out of his bedroom over to Rey’s. He knew which of the wooden floor panels creaked. His younger self would have been proud. 

Which finally led to where the couple were at now - struggling to make mechanical love on Ben’s small childhood bed that Rey had been sleeping soundly on. 

“I’m crushing you.”

“You’re not crushing me, love.”

“I can’t move unless your head hits against the headboard.” 

“You’ve never talked so much in bed before,” she said. She finally lifted his face up to look at her. “I’m _fine_ , Ben.”

As if to convince him, she widened her legs a little further, lifting one up to caress his thigh to motion him forward. 

At this, Ben started to move again, albeit very carefully. He made sure not to be too eager to prevent Rey from hitting her head against the bed frame. He lowered his head to kiss her eagerly to make up for the lack of speed, feeling her fingers weave through his sweat-damped hair. His intrusive tongue elicited a pleasing moan from her.

“Ben, faster,” she panted against his ear. 

Rey raised her other hand to rest on the headboard as leverage. The other trailed down Ben’s long, glorious body to squeeze his ass and push him forward into her once more.

“ _Faster_ …” 

He groaned and did as she pleased. He abandoned the crucially-slow pace he had initially started with and slowly picked up the speed. Soon enough, the room filled with the quiet sound of their series of groans and sighs, coupled with the incessant creaking of the bed frame. Rey had to rely on Ben’s word about his childhood room being sound-proof. 

When Rey’s hips canted upward to press herself further against him, something within Ben snapped. A rumbled groan tumbled out of his lips and he reclined back to push his hands against the inner side of her thighs. A hitched sound escaped Rey as she was pressed down in an open and accessible position. Ben resumed the speed and soon enough he was pistoning against her, continuing the excruciating pace from there. They were an obscene mess. 

“Ben, I-I … “

They were moving at a damning speed, and none of them could care any less about the noise they were making. Somewhere in between the movements, he hit the right spot, causing Rey to stifle a high-pitched moan against the pillow. 

“Ben! I’m- _I’m_ …” 

He knew what she was trying to say amidst her pleasure. When she came, he helped her right through it all until he too fell apart shortly after her, filling her insides with such warmth. A final buck into her and Ben fell against her, his weak arms barely lifting himself. Not that crushing her mattered though. Rey’s arms encircled around his neck to press him against her.

When they caught their breaths, Ben angled his head to kiss her rather chastely. An exchange of happy, content sighs endured before Rey deepened the kiss and slid her tongue. They made out passionately for the next hour in the same cramped position, Ben softly grinding into her once more. Happy, content sighs filling the room once more. 

“Did you like that?” Rey asked sweetly when they finally broke away. 

  They were warm and humid with sweat, but Ben could not care less. He caressed her face, a smirk tempting to show on his face.

“I did - I really liked that.”

He shifted a little ungracefully such that they were side-by-side on the too small bed. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to walk properly in the morning.”

This elicited a laughter from her lover. She smiled tiredly but knew the consequences of their love-making was not going to be funny in the morning. When Ben noticed her half-hearted amusement, he leaned his forehead against hers and wrapped his arm around her waist 

“They won’t judge you.” 

“Because it’s you who’ll bear the grunt of this all, right?” She cheekily responded, albeit sleepily. 

She could joke, but she was not entirely convinced that there would not be a few scathing remarks directed towards her in the morning.

Ben only pulled her closer to him. “I’m serious.”

Rey met his eyes - clear and business-like under the dark light as she had seen them before. She raised her hand to trace his beautiful, angular face under the dim moonlight. 

“Rey, this should be the least of your concerns,” he spoke quietly. “There’s a lot of fucked up things my family has done and witnessed. This is nothing, believe me.”

She could believe him when he talked so seriously, without a hint of amusement evident. The candour of his words ought to scare her however. It did not.

“They seem so devout though,” she commented, her mind going back to the multiple Bible verses and crucifixes hanging around the large house.

“The women like to atone for their husbands’ sins.” He ran his hand through his dark hair and sighed. “The church doesn’t work that way. But it helps to keep this fucked business running with a sane piece of mind.”

She watched him, feeling a swell of warmth at how easy he makes it look to open up to her. 

“Why do they kill?”

“For a greater cause, they say.” She feels him stroke the side of her naked hip absentmindedly. “To protect the unprotected.”

“From who?”

“From other crime syndicates out there.”

Silence fell between them once more. It was not uncomfortable, but it felt incomplete. Rey begins to feel the early signs of sleep dawning onto her. Until Ben spoke once more.

“They have a truce now though,” he whispers. “A truce to keep everyone’s respectable trades on-going. Unless one of them breaks it, the killing currency won’t roll in.”

“You mentioned the Resistance deals with armoury, right?”

“… Armoury, property, _entertainment_ ,” Ben listed down, stressing the last one to remind her about J.J. Binks. “There are plans to buy shares at Nevada. Las Vegas is looking promising if the Resistance wants to extend their presence and power beyond East Coast.”

Rey lifted her hand to trace his chest, marvelling at his width and the rippled muscles beneath his skin. She knew what physical prowess Ben was capable of. She had yet to witness it, but she could tell a lot just from his fervour in bed. 

“And are you involved with them?”

“There’s a reason why I never came back until now.”

“But will you be involved with them?”

Ben thought for awhile. “Probably not.” He lifted his arm to rest his head on it. “I told you. I don’t fit in.”

Rey shook her head, amused once more at how immature his justification sounded. For all she knew, he was telling the truth. That he may never have an elaborate reason for his not wanting to join the Resistance except for the fact that he could not be on the same wavelength as them.

“If not your family, where do you fit in then? The Marines?” 

“ _You._ ” 

Ben’s face fell serious. 

“We could try again. Just to make sure I fit you.”

Rey burst into laughter at this, causing her to recoil away from him. But he pulled her back and attacked her with bruising kisses on her open neck and collarbone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Resistance is Catholic - because I want to play with the same dynamic/facade used in the actual film. They're a big ass foster family and hopefully more of these details will be ironed out for you guys in the subsequent chapters.
> 
> Do follow me on Tumblr @reylomami! If you liked what you read, leave your mark here in any form :) Constructive feedback is very much appreciated too!
> 
> Next chapter will get the ball rolling and I'm excited to share it soon!
> 
> x


	3. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey's relationship reaches the true start of its beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka I suck at summaries, but this sentence hopefully captures the essence of this next chapter. It's a lengthy one compared to what I'm used to so I hope you will enjoy it!
> 
> Thank you as well for the kind comments! This AU is pretty obscure within the Reylo community and I'm glad a handful of you lot are able to find enjoyment in this. I hope to not disappoint!

  The Christmas week spent at the Skywalker-Solo manor left Rey a thousand and one opportunities to experience the domestic, family life. The Resistance was huge, and every man and woman that walked in the house was deemed a relative, no matter how ludicrous it sounded.

“This house was too big for just the three of us anyway,” Leia once commented to her as she helped the matriarch do mundane house chores during one of those days. 

Ben had seemed to like the idea that Rey was warming up incredibly to his family. But they had been so preoccupied with being entertained by their hosts separately to be able to spend enough time with each other as before. Ever since Christmas ended, the two of them would usually end up in bed at separate times, in complete exhaustion, thanks to the different activities Ben’s relatives engaged them with.

Rey was not one to complain however. Out of the people she met, Rose Tico was the one person Rey grew a warm bond with immediately. She made sure to include Rey and made her feel at home, especially at times when the boisterous Resistance members fail to take a hint and tone themselves down from the excessively-personal questions directed at Rey.

“Don’t let them bug you,” Rose would say. “They just want to make sure they can trust anyone who walks this place. It’s our safehouse, you know.” 

Though the petite girl had never mentioned the true nature of the family business to Rey yet, the two girls had a tacit agreement about never explicitly mentioning it. Soon enough, Rey learned to communicate in implicit terms when it was not Ben she was talking to.

On one of the quieter days during the post-Christmas week, the Skywalker-Solo manor was emptied of the men of the family. Poe Dameron had insisted they all go out to the shooting range for some ‘man’ time. 

  Leia had snorted at this but bid them off in motherly amusement nonetheless. Ben, however, was the only one who seemed visibly reluctant to go with them.

“You’ll be fine,” Rey had murmured against his cheek as they bid goodbye. “Have fun with them.”

“What about you?” He asked in return. His eyes were filled with concern at the thought of having to leave her alone once more. The poor guy only wanted time alone with her.

“Rose is taking me to see the park.” She grinned, excitement brimming her eyes.

“ _I_ should be the one taking you to the park.”

“Well, I’ll let you,” Rey promised. “As long as you come back in one piece. Now _go_!” 

At this, Ben dipped his head for a stealthy kiss - one which Rey wished she could prolong.  His lips were so soft and so capable of a range of things and before their kiss could get heated, he pulled away, leaving her at the brink of whining. Ben smirked and pressed another chaste kiss to her crown. 

“Alright, I’ll see you again.”

 

* * *

 

By mid-day, Rey found herself walking alongside Rose at the town park. There were a number of families having their picnics, with children running around in high spirits, and a few young couples littered around on park benches. 

Rose explained that she and her sister, Paige, would always go about the park together.  “It’s to remember where we truly came from.” 

Rey did not quite get what Rose meant by this. 

“The Resistance is our family, yeah. But at the end of it all, my sister and I couldn’t help but feel like we were still missing a piece of that one core being of who we are.” 

  It was remarkable how Rose was explaining herself with such ease. 

  “We lost our parents a long time ago. The stupid government decided they weren’t American enough. So the Resistance took us in and vowed to reunite our family together again.”

“They can do that?”

“They have connections,” Rose said. “ _All_ crime syndicates do.”

The two fell into a quiet walk after. Or at least, from outside Rey’s mind. It’s been only four or so months since Ben brought her to Poe Dameron’s wedding and met the family. She was far from having grasped the idea of the Resistance’s workings. Her mind was running amok trying to map the whole system out.

“So do you and your sister still go on walks together?”

From the corner of her eye, Rose’s face tensed. Almost as if she was fighting a frown back. “No, not anymore.”

“Why’s that?”

  Her friend shrugged in an effort that tried to look nonchalant. 

“Ever since she gained the favour of the higher-ups, she’s been too busy. She’s more committed to the idea of the Resistance than bringing our family back together.”

  Rey hummed in acknowledgement at this before another question emerged. “But if it’s for the same purpose of bringing your family back together again, is that not a good thing?”

Rose stopped walking and Rey followed suit. The shorter of the two was evidently perturbed at that moment, her eyes unwilling to meet the other. 

  But when she mustered the courage to look back at Rey, she said, “I don’t think it’s the same any more. She’s doing things for the Resistance that has no relation to bringing our family back together. I’ve seen her do ugly things - things she _thinks_ is right.” 

Rey kept silent.

“I once asked her if she wanted to go to California with me, to start anew, leave everything behind and get on with life. I had heard news that migrants were a lot more welcomed there. Migrants of _our_ kind.” Rose paused. She shook her head at a past memory that flashed in her mind. “Anyway, Paige looked at me as if I spat on her. She said the Resistance had no presence in California - there was no reason for her to be there.”

They resumed their walking. “She told me never to bring such an idea up again. That it was disrespectful. So I didn’t. So we resumed our daily devotion to the cause - whatever it is. I guess she hadn’t had the time to resume our park outings anymore.”

Rey’s soul dampened. She refused, however, to let Rose feel pitied. Rey knew she would not like it. 

“Ben told me the Resistance worked to protect the unprotected.” 

Rose shrugged once more. The gesture stirred a hint of an uneasy feeling in the pits of Rey’s stomach. “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“But I'm not exactly right, either?"

“The ends justify the means,” Rose said, almost seeming exasperated at having to hear herself say the words out loud herself. “A lot of sacrifices are made along the way: money, lives, _morality_ … It takes someone of psychological strength to remain in the Resistance. Or even be a part of the grander scheme of things, even if one is only playing a marginal role.”

“I suppose that would that be me then?”

“Perhaps - are you and Ben serious?”

The question took Rey aback. “What are you saying?”

“I’m sorry - I know you guys are probably very serious, what with him taking you home to the family and all,” Rose blabbered, realising her mistake of being too upfront. Rey had not minded. It was what the question entailed that unsettled her. “I only meant to ask if you know what you’re getting into by being with him.”

“That’s nothing to worry,” she assured. To whom, however, she was not sure. “We’ve talked about it before. Ben doesn’t see himself being largely involved with the Resistance.”

Rose nodded understandingly. “He’s always been the outcast, yes.” 

  A memory seemed to flicker past her - a happy one, thankfully. Rey saw how her cheeks tightened into a smile. 

  “Contrary to popular belief, the Resistance is headed by Leia. She’s the head of the family, you know. Han Solo likes to take things as they happen, not the chief-type.” 

Rey smiled at this newfound information. She had always identified Leia as a homemaker, the great woman behind a great man. Perhaps she herself had just not seen enough to realise who truly was the one in power. 

“Anyway, I’m not sure if you know but Ben defied his mother in his youth. He decided to enlist in the army, despite Leia having managed to pull some strings with a couple o’senator friends to let the boys off from serving at war.” 

A memory of Ben Solo in his crisp uniform, looking dapper and fresh for his country, as Rey first saw him, emerged in her thoughts. 

“He never told me that,” Rey murmured dreamily, her respects for Ben soaring at the thought of such anoble act.

“I’m guessing it was because Leia was livid when she found out.” There was a hint of amusement before her tone fell into seriousness. “Poe and the guys weren’t too pleased at the idea when Ben first told us over dinner. They were mad at him, knowing that Leia wasn’t going to be happy to hear it.”

“And what did Han think?”

“Han was Han about it.” Rose smirked a little at the memory. “I knew deep down he wanted to support Ben. Han knew how the Resistance could be suffocating to him - the old man was an outsider who voluntarily chose to become apart of it. Ben was the opposite, so his father understood that his son needed a breather. But anyway, Han and Leia were in the middle of rebuilding their fragile marriage at the time. So he had to stick by her if he didn’t want to see his own family fall into pieces.”

There was something about missing this piece of information that bothered Rey a little. Why hadn’t Ben confided about this to her before? Did he not trust her enough?

  She shook the doubts away before it could gnaw at her to a point of no return. 

“But back at the wedding - I don’t know, Leia didn’t seem to not have any bad blood with Ben.”

“It had been two years since the war - four years since Ben walked out on them. Time must’ve healed wounds.” 

“That easy?”

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend yourself and you tell me how he did it?” 

  The challenge was meant to be in jest. But little did Rose realise how her question seemed to entertain Rey’s bubbling doubts once more.

“Maybe I will.”

Noticing the shift in mood, Rose reached out to Rey, touching her forearm in warmth. “I’m sure he will tell you everything you want and need to know. Just give him time. Ben’s a late bloomer, but I know that _you_ know it’s all worth it.”

Rey smiled at her appreciatively. She had not realised that those were the words she needed to hear. Her time with Ben were undoubtedly the happiest memories that emerged after the darkness of her mundane, miserable youth.

  She had definitely thought a lot about the two of them; of their future, of what they could be, of what she wanted them to be.

But growing up in the merciless London streets made her wary and cynical as far as her idealist side would let her. Her one-way miracle trip to America was meant to be a new, hopeful beginning for her. Ben was the personification of that. To know that she was at her happiest around him was both a blessing and a curse. A curse because she knew next to nothing about his past for over a year. It was not until he started showing signs of being serious with her by taking her to see his family that she could breathe a little easier. 

  The wedding was merely scratching the surface, however, as she had begun to realise. There was still so much to learn about her lover. It was beautifully ironic how she could feel so familiar yet so estranged from him. Ben felt like home while feeling so foreign. He was an enigmatic lover who somehow knew how to undo her, just as she does him.

 

* * *

 

“You thinking of marrying her?” 

Ben looked up, setting his cigarette aside from where his lips were perched in his lips. “Rey?”

“Yeah, Rey,” Poe said. 

“Why?”

Poe looked at him like he was crazy. “Is it bad that your brother asks you of your plans?”

Ben rolled his shoulders and took another drag from his cigarette. “I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without her.” That was the truth in its most candid form.

Poe peered at him from the pint of beer he lifted to drink. “So you plan to marry her.”

The question stilled him, much to his own annoyance. _Yes_. 

Ben was a man of convention, but his unconventional background forced him to re-evaluate his position on societal norms. He did not want to bring Rey into the bloody mess that was his family business.

“I don’t see what’s wrong with not having to marry. We’re happy as we are.”

Poe laughed mirthlessly at this as he reclined back on his chair to watch Ben properly. A few moments of silence passed them with Ben giving his fullest attention to his cigarette. 

“You do know that not marrying her does not exempt her from the consequences of our business, right?” 

  He met Poe’s eyes, who was studying him carefully with such a brotherly instinct. 

  “Don’t ruin the girl.” He had meant it on an emotional level, but the double-entendre was still apt.

  Ben winced at the thought. Suddenly, he was fuming at Poe, but he kept his teeth clenched.

  “I already have,” he managed to say, his voice steeling at the bubbling anger he had for his family. “I did when I introduced her on your wedding.”

The memory was a happy one, both for his relatives and Rey herself. But the consequences were dire and he hated it. He thought the consequences could be mitigated, or escaped even. Wishful thinking, however, never brought Ben any happiness. He knew hell was going to catch up to the both of them in due time.

 

* * *

 

The men were arriving back home late that night. It was not unknown that Rey sorely missed Ben and so did he. After their parting early that day, she knew they both deserved a treat.

She dressed herself in the long satin sleepwear dress that Rose gifted her for Christmas. It did justice to the exposed milky skin along her collar, dipping just a little into her chest. The dress was rather chaste, but its thinness made every curve and dent on her body visible to the naked eye.

The sound of cars arriving at the compound signalled the men’s arrival. In a hurry, she spritzed some perfume on the skin behind her ears and positioned herself on the bed. Lying sideways with her arm holding up her head, the other lining the side of her body, seemed like the best option. 

But as soon as she heard Ben’s heavy footsteps climbing up the stairs to their room, the better of her quickly changed her mind and seated herself properly on the edge of the bed as a last minute change.

The doorknob turned just as she made for a quick touch of her letdown hair. 

“Rey?”

Ben stepped inside, his attention elsewhere. His voice had been low, as if to make sure he doesn't wake her up if she was asleep. He busied himself with unbuttoning his outer shirt, ready to rest for the night.

“Hey.” She stood up, striding over to him to greet him properly. 

Ben looked up at her and his eyes immediately raked down her body. In spite of his seemingly indifferent face, she knew she made an impression on him all right.

“How was it?” Rey asked, encircling his neck and planting a kiss on the tip of his lip. 

“Subpar.”

They rumbled with suppressed laughter at this as he pulled her tight against his chest, burrowing his face in her shoulder.

“You look great,” he murmured, causing a chill to run down her spine. He then turned his face against her skin to the crook of her exposed neck, inhaling. “You smell great too.”

Rey pulled away slowly, a smirk teasing her face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He returned her look and corrected himself. “I meant you smell _extra_ enticing tonight.”

“Enticing, huh?”

“Yeah.”

He did not wait any further. He dipped his head down and pressed his lips against hers, tasting her soft lips like she was his oasis. Her hands roamed his body to push his outer layer of clothing out as he carefully guided her backwards to the bed. 

When the back of her knees hit the bed, he lay her down, gaze dark and focused on her. Finally, the were having this. Finally, they were could be themselves. 

  Shivers tingled up her spine as he climbed atop her, not forgetting to pepper her body with slow, pleasurable kisses at every nook and cranny. As his hands roamed the length of her body, his thumbs appreciatively grazed her pert nipples against the smooth satin, causing Rey to release a satisfied hum. 

“I missed you,” she managed to say when she pulled his face away from her still-covered breasts momentarily.

Ben gazed back into her clear eyes. Anyone could get lost in that pool of hazel easily. He, however, would happily drown in it. 

“I missed you too.”

He dipped down once more, capturing her mouth in an on open-mouthed kiss as he pressed down between her thighs. A quiet groan escaped him against her as his hands got adventurous and started sliding up her slender legs, pushing the satin dress higher up. He ground into her continuously as he did so.

Rey reluctantly pulled away from him, carding her fingers through his dark hair and caressing the side of her thigh against his body lightly. The movement willed him to take a pause.

“Will you tell me about your day?”

“Can it wait?” 

His hands reached higher, grazing her ribs then the underside of her naked breast. 

“I’m kind of in the middle of something now.”

When Ben kissed her once more, he sensed her unease in spite of her arousal.He finally pulledaway. 

“Baby, what’s wrong?” 

It was a little difficult to see her under the dim lighting, but by the way her breath hitched a little at his question, he knew it was right of him to ask at that moment.

Rey did not want to have this conversation. They deserved to indulge in one another that night. She felt stupid for bringing up the growing unease in her conscience with such a lack of subtlety. 

Combing his hair back from his face, she let her hands fall to the side of his cheek, fingers grazing his temple in circles. She considered asking him if he would like to get on with what they were doing first. But they both knew they could not enjoy sex when something unspoken lingered in the hushed sounds of their lovemaking.

“Ben, you know I care a lot about you, right?” She whispered. Her thumb drew light circles on his temple. Ben perched himself above her on both elbows, lower body still pressed down against hers. 

Intimacy was a still a strange thing for the both of them as familiar as it may be. They have only exchanged “I love you’s” twice or thrice during their entire courtship. The first happened in a letter Ben sent to Rey while he was deployed at Italy. The anguish and despair of war made him think he will never return alive, prompting him to pour his heart and soul out to the only person who mattered in his life at that moment. 

The second was when he returned from the war. They made love to each other the whole day, confirming to him that he was indeed at his happiest with her. Rey had been the first to vocalise it when she remembered his own words in his letter. 

The third was one of the days they spent together in utter domesticity. Rey had been in the shower when he burned himself for wrongly pouring boiling water on himself instead of their coffee cups. She heard a loud, searing profanity, followed by a banging against the furniture. Without a further thought she ran out of the bathroom, still glistening in water, with nothing but a towel. "Oh God, I thought I was going to lose you if I hadn't come out!" She tended to him immediately after and Ben knew then that she was the one.  "I love you too," was his way of thanking her.

  A few days later he brought up the wedding invitation and asked if he could take her with him.

“I care a lot about you too,” he told her, leaning against her hand and taking her wrist to kiss it. “What’s the matter, love?”

“Do you trust me?”

At this, Ben’s gaze narrowed. If he ever found out that his family was treating her like an unwanted guest - “What did they say to you?"

“No, no,” Rey backtracked. She pushed to sit up properly, leaning her head against the headboard. “It’s not like that.”

Ben sat up too while keeping her encaged in his presence. 

“Then what is it? You’re worrying me.”

Her hand dropped to fiddle anxiously on her lap. He noticed it before looking back at her face. She would not meet his eyes and he did not know how to feel about the way she was behaving. 

“Do you trust me enough to care for you?”

A low chuckle escaped his lips as if in relief. “Rey, you _know_ I do—"

“So tell me about your family.”

This silenced him. 

“You speak like you’re ashamed of your family’s crime business and I’ve long accepted that,” she went on. “I just still don’t understand you at times. You try to make it seem like your youth was a blissful one - or at least a dull thing to bring up about, but it isn’t, and I want to understandyou wholly, Ben.” 

There was no stopping now that she had spoken. She cringed internally at herself but pressed on. 

“I want to know how you and your mother reconciled. I want to know why you didn’t go back to your family after the war. What makes me a special case for you. I want to know why you can’t just feel like you’re one of them. Ben, I want—”

“Rey.”

“Ben, _please_.” Her eyes were welling a little and she mentally cursed at herself for this. 

There was nothing to cry about, but her exasperation was taking a toll on her tear glands. 

“You can’t keep me in the dark forever. We have to move on one way or another and I refuse to sit by the margins of everything that shaped who you are.” Her mind flickered back to the question Rose asked her at the park. 

“I just want to know you better, because all this - “ She motions a finger to the space between them as she struggled to vocalise her next words. “—This feels so _real._ So _familiar_. But I don’t know a great deal about you and it scares me when it shouldn’t.” 

  _It should_ , he wanted to say. But the muscles in his throat were too tight and dry.

Her anguish gnawed his heart. He watched her internally curse herself for letting her emotions run loose as she tried to regain her composure. Unsure of what to say, he took her fiddling hands and bowed down to kiss it. 

“Rey, I’m sorry.” He looked back at her and took her chin. “Please stop crying.”

“I’m _not_ crying.” She shot back at him, pride wounded a little at having to be an emotional mess for trying to strike up an important conversation.

Ben nodded, acquiescing. His thumb had fallen from her chin and he allowed his hand to rest on her collar, grazing her angular planes instead. 

“I never wanted you to feel this way,” he said.  Rey merely gave her a look as if to tell him to cut the bullshit.  She had tolerated his omissions long enough. “Did Rose tell you things at the park?”

“Not much.” She sniffed a little, turning her face away to hide her disappointment. “Just the important highlights that she thought I should have been told.” 

  The betrayal in her tone was puncturing to his ears. 

When there was silence, Rey continued, “I felt so stupid just listening to her yap away about someone I should’ve known.”

“Rey …”

“I don’t mean to make you feel bad. I just think you ought to know how my day went.” 

She lifted her hands to rub at her suddenly aching forehead and Ben did not know what else to do but to watch her deal with her emotions helplessly. 

“So there’s that,” she mustered in an attempt to look unperturbed.

God, he was a dick. They both knew it. And he did not know how to make it up to her. 

A few moments passed by before he finally spoke lowly. 

“Poe asked me if I was serious about you.”

She released her hands from her head. 

“Oh, yeah?” 

_Rose did too_. But this was about him telling her about his day. She was going to listen to him.

“He asked if I’d like to marry you.”

At this, Rey rolled her eyes, looking away from him. “Ben, I’m not seeking your sympathy right now—"

“Well, you should know that I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I did,” he interjected her, eyes still burning into her soul. “I desperately wish to marry you, Rey. But I couldn’t say so myself.”

She watched him. The mocking look on her face slowly replaced by curiosity and a hint of sadness she was trying to mask.

“Do I—" She struggled to form the words in her mouth. “Do I embarrass you?” 

She had tried her best every time he presented her to his family. Perhaps the consequences of their secret lovemaking in his childhood bedroom was finally catching up to her.

“ _God_ , no.” Ben leaned in to kiss her reassuringly, taking her neck and stroking the underside of her jaw. “You’re perfect, Rey. I don’t deserve you and everyday I pray I don’t lose you, believe that.”

“So why don’t you wish to tell Poe you’d like to marry me?” 

  How straightforward of her. She would have cringed at the unladylike nature of the question. But Ben being Ben could not careless about this. He loved her candour and she knew that.

“I’m _scared_ , Rey,” he finally said, looking intently into her eyes. This time it was he whose eyes were brimming red a little. “I’m scared of losing you simply by associating you with myself, with my family.”

“Oh, Ben …”

“People lose their loved ones in this underground business all the time. It’s the way things are. I didn’t want to be a part of any of it because of you. I can't live myself if anything ever happens to you,” he continued. 

He had taken her jaw with both hands then, his grip unknowingly becoming harder. 

“I’d trade all of my family members just to be with _you_ , Rey. No matter how fucked up that sounds. That’s how crazy I am about you. Do you believe that?”

In that moment, she understood everything he had told her and everything that had yet to be said. She pulled his face to hers, pressing her lips to his. It was a chaste kiss but he returned it with such earnestness, as if she was going to disappear from his arms any second.

When they pulled back, breathing heavily, Rey looked him, full of empathy and a bottomless love in her eyes. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” And as if for extra measure, she added, “I love you, Ben.”

This stunned him. The anguished look on his face soon softened into a relieved smile. 

“I love you too.” 

They kissed once more, teeth clashing, pace fluctuating according to their emotional needs. They made out for an eternity before sleep and weariness got the better of them.

“Let’s go for a drive tomorrow.”

His forehead was pressed against hers, not willing to separate any of himself from her just yet.

“Okay.”

Ben captured her lips once more, hands roaming the curvature of her upright body. 

“Come to bed,” Rey finally whispered against his ear when his mouth was busy nibbling along her collar bone.

“I _am_ at bed.” 

She pushed him a little, a sleepy smile tugging at her lips. “You know what I mean.” 

Ben finally obliged and reluctantly pulled himself away from their entangled arms. Without breaking eye contact, he moved over to the drawer near the windows to get himself clothes for the night. 

When he finally turned his broad back to her to busy himself with collecting his sleepwear, Rey watched him intently from the bed. She could only ask God what she deserved to find herself in this man’s arms. Somewhere in her wicked childhood, she must have done good, or God must have shown mercy on her hardships and made sure to make up for it. 

“Ben?”

“Mm.”

“Why are the curtains drawn?” 

He looked at her in confusion, before snapping his head to the other side where the windows indeed had its curtains drawn to the sides. 

  It was never drawn at night. The next second of realisation was a splitting one.

A burst of glass shot through and he ducked. 

“ _REY_! Get down!” He shouted, dropping his height to dodge the series of bullets.

He scrambled amidst the shooting chaos, bits of wood and glass flying everywhere in the room, and leaped across the bed to pull Rey down on the floor with him. Their entangled bodies rolled off the bed with a violent thud that sounded like nothing amidst the chaotic shooting. Ben could ignore the soreness in his back as long as they were blocked from the window sight. He quickly rolled over to get on top of Rey to cover her.

The violent shooting went on for the next few minutes. He had her encaged under him tightly, not willing to move until the shooting stopped. When it did, they could hear the guard dogs outside barking violently. Screams and angry shouts soon erupted from the rest of the household.

“Rey, are you alright?”

Rey looked up at him, her hair strewn all over her face, horror plastered in her eyes. 

“Yes, are you?”

“Yes, yes.”

“ _Oh God_ , Ben,” she cried, pulling him down for a desperate hug as the tears of the aftermath streamed down. “What _was_ that?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out.”

There was a banging on the door immediately after. Both of them tore their eyes from each other to the source of their surprise.

“ _Ben_!” 

It was Poe Dameron’s voice. 

“Han’s shot!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I share other Reylo love on Tumblr @reylomami and I've yet to properly do a promo post on the fic, but I will do so in due time.
> 
> Let me know what you think! Constructive feedback is always welcome :) I'm not familiar with how beta-writers work, so if there's anyone who can give me more insight as to how to navigate the fanfic-writing world, I'm all ears!
> 
> Thanks once again :)


	4. Devotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Resistance plans to make a lesson out of their attackers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the previous chapter have been a blend of both the first and second Godfather films. The shooting scene was a deliberate parallel of the one that took place in Part II after Michael saw his son's drawing on his pillow. There will be more scenes to be written around actual plot lines from the trilogy, but they will become more spread out as the plot of this fic start to have its footing. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one!

The dining room was boisterous with alarm and panic. For such a large house, the dining room was too small for its occupants. Despair was in the air, and it was increasingly getting humid. Some of the women had opted out to get packing as the men argued over one another as to who could have possibly been behind the shooting.

“It was a mistake to send out Han to the hospital at this time with only two of our men!”

“He’s in a critical state - what do you have us fucking do? Let him sit here and _die_?”

“We didn’t think this through!”

Had it not been for the direness of their situation, Ben Solo would have been pondering why it was them and not him who was expressing their utmost concern for Han Solo’s welfare. 

It was not like he did not care. The situation only demanded him to be cool and collected. There was no way in hell they could think straight and plan their next move while fanning fire into the panic.

“That’s _enough_!” 

Everyone turned. Even Rey, who was huddled standing alone at the corner, had looked up.

Leia was fuming. In her robe and night gown, she could easily be mistaken for a well-off grandmother in the bliss of retirement. But this was the type of situation that beckoned the matriarch out of her. She stood at the front of the dining table with such presence. It was almost mesmerising to watch the little, aged woman command so much from the crowd.

“Did anyone catch the shooters as I have instructed?” She asked, calm and collected.

“No, ma’am,” Poe answered. “They’ve escaped the parameters in a Shelby. We shot the back window, killed one of them in the car but they still got away.”

“Any car plate number?”

“It was too dark, ma’am.”

Anxious chatter erupted once more. Ben was seated on one of the dining chairs in the middle of the crowd. In that unsettling burst of noise, he sought her, turning his head to look over at the corner she stood at, hidden away from the main discourse. 

She returned him the only reaction she could muster: a purse of her lips and a deep breath.

“Fine then,” Leia said. “We’re dispatching crews to keep an eye on the hospital. In the meanwhile, we’re setting an example to anyone else who _thinks_ about laying a finger on anyone in this room.”

Ben looked up at his mother. Her natural regal demeanour, the impenetrable commander of the Resistance. There were many things that she clearly inherited from Anakin Skywalker, as much as her relationship with the infamous man was estranged. An iron fist and an unbreakable determination were two of them.

“Do you think they were after him?” 

The question had not been brought up much to his surprise. But then again, he was the only onewho seemed to be thinking rationally. It did not hurt to add as well that he was the only one among them who went to proper college - on his own accord.

Leia approached the seat next to his, looking evidently anguished for once. 

“Your father?” She frowned, shaking her head. “No, they wouldn’t want anything from him.”

She was right. Han Solo kept to the sidelines of the crime family as much as he was allowed. He would only involve himself as the salesman, the negotiator, or the smooth-talker, under the guise of an external hire by the Resistance.

“Maybe they’re tryna get to you then.” 

At this, Leia looked at her son. Incredulity seeped onto her face as she watched him pull out a cigarette and light it up. It was a similar habit he picked up from his father when dealing with stress.

“I’ve only ever accomplished a truce with the other mafias out there that ensured peace and quiet. What could I have possibly done to anger them?”

Her son took his time to breathe in the nicotine and exhale its excess out. His slack demeanour could have easily been mistaken for indifference - something that peeved Poe and a number of the more accredited Resistance members out. Leia, however, found it relieving. She did not need everyone else’s evident stress spiking up her own.

“You were the only one who didn’t support the drug trade, after all.”

“You know why I don’t believe in business in narcotics.” It seemed as if she was not so keen to divulge on the topic any further.

“It’s a lucrative deal, compared to gambling and olive oil. We’re bleeding the other Families dry because of our share. The fact that we don’t support the collective notion to get into narcotics, is a big fuck-you to them I would think.”

“There is no semblance of legitimacy in narcotics, Ben. _You_ would know that.” 

Leia narrowed her eyes down at him and in that moment he thought she was provoking his inner demons out. The very demons that called him to walk away in the first place. He almost _wished_ he could indulge himself at that moment. The realisation that he could entertain such a thought in Rey’s presence unsettled him.

“Funny how the same could be said for our very _legal_ alcohol and gambling ventures.”

Ben took another draw from his cigarette, turning his gaze away from his mother’s stern look. The ash tray before him looked quite pleasing to the eye.

“Our lack of involvement in narcotics ensure our allies in the public sector.”

“They _too_ are getting involved in ‘em, last I heard.”

“And when did you become so involved in the Resistance’s business all of a sudden?”

At that moment, Lando Calrissian stepped up, having observed the exchange from the sideline. “ _Leia_.”

“Lando.”

It wounded her pride to be silenced in front of her son. She was grateful for it however. Her nerves were spiking up and taking control over her rational side.

“Let me take him with me to give the First Order a visit.” The suggestion was out of the blue and caught Ben’s attention.

“The First Order? Why them?” He looked back from his mother and Lando. 

“We haven’t been in the best of terms with them,” Leia supplied. “They’re our best bet.”

“Did _you_ suggest this?”

“No, your father got a hunch and merely mentioned it just yesterday.” Lando crossed his arms over his chest, a brow raised at Ben as if challenging him to question their facts once more.

“Why would he say such a thing?”

Leia made to stand up, looking around for someone. “He’s the one helping us negotiate with them a property deal at Nevada. —- _Poe_ , come here.”

Poe separated himself from his wife at the living room and hurried over.

“Lando, you’re taking the both of them tomorrow to Boston,” the matriarch finalised. “My faith is running low for the First Order.” 

“What about dad?”

“Tico’s heading the division around the hospital. For now, find some place to rest. We’re clearing this house out until further instructions.”

The group dissembled and Ben squashed the remainder of his cigarette onto the tray. He turned to find Rey. When she was not in the same corner where she had deposited herself in, he felt a sinking feeling within him. She had been so stricken and distraught, as everyone were. But she managed to bottle up her emotions as quickly as the frantic chaos ensued within the Resistance. He walked around to look for her. 

“Rey?”

He found her in the same room where the horrors first manifested. Her back was turned to him from the bed and she seemed to be busying herself with something.

“We’re vacating this place, right?” She asked dutifully as he came up to her side. The cadence in her voice was eerily soothing amidst their current circumstance.

She was folding their clothes and stuffing them into their duffel bags with such speed and method. There was only the faintest hint of frantic in her movements.

“Yes.”

Ben watched her, unsure of what she was feeling. This was what he feared bringing her into his family. Not too long after he cracked open a part of the wall he built between her and his family, a vengeful shooting happened. 

Sensing his uncertainty amidst the collected facade he expertly wore, Rey turned to him, pausing just for a moment with her packing.

“You’re not alone in this, Ben.”

He could only nod at her. Her understanding and complete submission to his family’s circumstance was truly above him. He could only hope to live long enough to understand the depths of her character.

“I didn’t wish this on you, Rey.”

“No, of course not.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Ben, I’m fine. It’s your father you should worry about.”

He sighed, letting the fatigue of the day wear him down as he sat on the edge of the bed, next to where she resumed packing their items. He was relieved that he did not get to see Han in his injured form. By the time Poe brought them down to the scene, the old man was moaning as the Resistance members attended to him for transport.

“So where do we go?”

Rey waited for him to collect his thoughts. He sought her eyes as he sieved through the best of their options in his head. 

“We’re going back to the hotel.”

The mere mention of this caused memories of the same hotel they first lodged in to emerge. The twin beds pushed together, the privacy and intimacy the room offered, the balcony overlooking the New York streets where Ben’s fingersshamelessly and selflessly ministered to her sensitive needs through her robe. 

Rey would have blushed at the obscene memory had it not been for the dire situation they were in. She kept a straight face and gave a single nod.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me too.”

She paused, hesitating on her next words as she finished the last of their clothes. 

“Ben, I overheard what your mother and Lando said.”

He watched her, waiting for her reaction before he could supply her with his own. 

“It sounds,” she hesitated. Her fingers fiddled with the zipper of their duffel bags. “It sounds dangerous. Like you’re going on enemy territory.”

Ben nodded, pulling her gently to him such that she stood in front of where he was seated, knees pressed to the edge of the bed between his legs. 

“We don’t know that for sure yet.”

“Will you be careful?” Her hands found his scalp. She combed his hair back and settled them on his shoulders.

“I will.”

“Will you take care of Poe and Lando?”

“You know I will.” He had been a sniper in the army, his fellow comrades depended their lives on him. Their waiting wives and children depended on him. Poe and Lando could depend on him.

“And will you come back to me?”

Ben opened his mouth to speak but Rey interrupted. 

“—Will you come back to me … as you _are_ right now?”

He was baffled by the specificity of the question. He nodded nonetheless. His understanding of her question will crystallise in due time.

“I’ll always come back to you, Rey.”

She exhaled nervously at this, bending down to embrace him. She felt his strong arms envelope her, pushing her to straddle on his lap innocently and they spent a few moments in each other’s arms, hearing each other's heartbeats and breathing until they were synchronised.

“I’ll always come back to you too, Ben.” The words were not needed, but she felt she had to let him know that she reciprocated his utter devotion to her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one will be lengthy and I hope you guys liked this chapter! If you liked what you read, leave your mark here and come say hi @reylomami on Tumblr :)
> 
> Though I cannot confirm anything yet, this story shall take about 12 to 15 chapters! 
> 
> Here's to more reylooooo


	5. Tasting Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vengeance is a convoluted satisfaction to indulge in. The conflict that comes with it after is a bitter, acrid-tasting one.

Three hours have passed since Ben sat on the pitiful chair at the opposite side of the low-lit hospital room. Sleep was getting the better of him but he would not succumb to weakness at a time of heightened risks. He had refused anyone who had offered to take over for him. 

It was the only time he had with his father before he was to jump on a car to Boston with Lando and Poe. He hoped to God it was not the last.

The thought made him guilty for wishing he was back at the hotel room where he and Rey had booked in. It was in the middle of the night, right before he left for the hospital. The two had been silent from the moment they vacated the Skywalker-Solo manor along with the rest of the Resistance; an army of black Cadillac Fleetwoods emptying the compound for separate destinations.

Upon reaching their bedroom, he had gently pried her fingers from their bags to coax her to go to sleep instead. It would have been a tedious task had it not been in the wee hours of the night. He had sat next to her laying form, brushing loose strands of hair until she fell asleep. 

Only then did he quietly make his way out to the hospital to give his presence to another loved one.

Han Solo’s face when he was deep asleep made him look very much at peace. There was a serenity in the lines on his face which reminded Ben of the carefree days of his youth, when it was just him and his father sneaking out to the lake to go fishing. 

Those were moments which Ben was too young to understand the nuances behind his father’s actions. The old temperamental man would buckle at his son’s impressionable innocence and vowed to give him the world. It all showed in the way Han’s patience was exceptionally limitless as he taught Ben how to set up their boat, paddle it right, and teach him poker as they waited upon their fishing rods. 

His father exuded toughness. But just a scratch of the surface revealed the hollow space behind the tough demeanour, meant exclusively for Leia and Ben to confide in. Though gruff and jaded by the world, as evinced in the scowl he always wore (a family trait), Han was incredibly soft on his one and only son. 

Ben was just too young to realise a hint of that until much later into adulthood.

The sound of the door creaking disturbed the reverent silence. It sounded offensively intrusive when in reality it was not. But Ben was too deep in his silent meditation over his father’s state that he could not help but feel piqued. He did not give the intruder the satisfaction of his attention. His eyes remained trained on Han Solo’s serene face.

“Ben.” The intruder was Lando. “It’s time to go.”

His uncle could not be refused. Business was business, and Ben would seek the perpetrators.Remembering the stakes at hand willed him to finally rise to his feet. 

He nodded at Lando in acknowledgement and stepped forward to his father’s bedside. Bending over, the younger Solo pressed his lips to the crown of his father’s head. 

“I’ll be back, father.”

As he joined Lando outside of the hospital, Lando kept a reassuring hand on the his shoulder. It was a familiar touch that brought young Ben validation and assurance while growing up. 

“Your dad won’t die on you, kid.” A confident smirk pulled at his lips. “He’ll rise from his grave if he does. The old man would shit a brick if he was sent off by a lamely-executed shooting. Han once said that if he was going to have to go, he better be looking straight at his killer’s eyes when it happens.”

The idea was remarkably characteristic of Han. Ben looked at his uncle and huffed a little in relief. Han was _not_ going to die.

They reached outside where Poe and Paige waited for them at their car.

“Bunk loaded?”

“Loaded and ready to go.”

“Good, good. Well,” Lando beckoned, “Time is money.”

Poe followed him suit to get in the car. Before Ben got into it himself, he turned to Paige who stood to wave them off.

“Keep an eye on ‘im, Tico.” He tapped on the hood of the car, thinking. 

“If they get to him before I do,” Ben hesitated, stilling himself from wincing as his thoughts crystallised with conviction. “—I’ll _fucking tear_ their whole being down. You tell them that.”

There was a brief pause as the respected division head took in what was just said to her.

“I won’t have to, Solo.” Paige nodded at him in reassurance. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t get to that.”

Ben finally got in the car and Paige made her way back to guard the hospital.

 

* * *

 

“You dare come ‘ere in my property accusing me of trespassing your house?” Armitage Hux frowned. His crisp voice echoed through the smoke-laden gambling room made of velvet and and gold linen. “Who’s the one _trespassing_ now?”

All formalities had been forgotten. The drinks had stopped pouring in, the card game abandoned, and the scantily clad strippers were no longer dancing and fondling the men for their attention. 

“We didn’t say the First Order did it,” Poe spoke. “We’re only seeking your help to find out _who_ did.”

The charismatic smooth-talker that definitely took inspiration from Han’s style during Ben’s sabbatical did not look so sure of himself for once. Ben dared not to show any hint of disappointment. Of course, Poe could only exude charisma and confidence to a limited group of people. Only the agreeable and pliable ones. But as far as skills were, Poe was not his father. He was not even his father’s son.

Ben was, however.

“Funny. I don’t think so, Dameron.” Hux made to stand, still in his boxers and socks, his dignity covered with nothing but a dark crimson-lined robe. “You lot come in interrupting a serious business meeting I’ve planned for so long with the Corellians. I generously extend the invite to you for courtesy’s sake and what do I get in return? You fuckin’ _fend_ my guest of the night off.”

Hux was seething and Ben watched Lando take a turn to qualm the suspected Nazi sympathiser.

“Whatever it is you want from them, we’ll take care of it for you, Hux.” Lando maintains his unperturbed demeanour, taking a long drag from his cigarette while staring the redhead down. 

His undressed state would have seemed comical against the well-dressed trio had it not been for the armed guards standing at the corners of the room. 

“Yes, you fucking will.” 

“—Not until you help us.”

“There is _nothing_ I can help you with.”

The First Order confidante was being difficult. It did not bode well for Ben Solo’s temperament. His finger was tapping rapidly on his armchair already, disappointment fanning over their lack of progress. Lando could not get this over and done with any faster.

His uncle made to speak once more but Ben interjected. “—No, you’re absolutely right, Armi.”

The two Resistance men looked at him, narrowing their eyes as if to find out what he was going for.

“Don’t _call me_ that.”

Ben’s brows raised a little at the man’s brusque remark. “We’ve been classmates before. Surely, you’d make me an exception?”

“Would you prefer I call you Benny?”

“Fine, touché.” Ben sat back on his chair, attempting to exude the same coolness that Landowore but had foregone just a few seconds ago. “Sit back, Dameron. Uncle. There’s nothing to suspect out of our most competent business partner here. Isn’t that right, Hux?”

“You pander to me.” It was Hux’s turn to narrow his eyes at his former childhood rival.

“No, no. You should know - I respect you a lot,” the young Solo continued. “What you did there with the Cubans? Fucking genius, Hux. Who would have known.”

The referral to the First Order’s lucrative narcotics business at Cuba seemed to do the trick. Hux slackened a little and even smirked smugly at the appraisal.

“Honestly, I still don’t know why we haven’t gotten into the narcotics side yet.”

“Why, I cannot agree any more, Solo.” The redhead sat down after having encircled them like a predator. He crossed his skinny, pale legs and took his cigarette. “It’s quite a shame the Resistance is holding all of us back down from expanding the business in the country. Even the Corellians are shitting on you lot for it.”

“Believe me, I know. I’m doing my best to convince my mother into it.”

“Well, let me know how it goes.”

Ben lifted the tip of his lip at Hux. “Actually, I might ask for your advise when the day comes. I think it should be soon.”

“Of course. Though my consultations don’t come for free. But for a childhood _friend_ , I’ll make an exception.”

Ben did not miss the forced gratification in Hux’s voice. He looked over at Lando and Poe, who were still stiff and unsure of how their plan was unfolding. 

“Will you two killjoys spare me some air and slacken a little? For fuck’s sake.” He shook his head as he reached for a cigarette. 

When the two did not abate from their stance, he rolled his eyes. “The First Order means no goddamn harm. _Jesus_.”

The two finally obliged; shoulders slumping a little, more uncertainty brimming their eyes. 

“Hux, could you bring the drinks back in? The ladies too, if you please.”

Hux was more than willing to accommodate to Ben’s request. He nodded at one of his guards. The music was back on in an instant and the strippers were escorted back into the intimate room, dancing sensually and even daring to touch the men teasingly. Ben looked up at Hux’s guard and motioned for the playing cards to be returned.

“A round of poker, shall we?” He looked up at the circle of men. Hux was more than pleased to resume their indulgence. Poe and Lando went along with whatever was happening, unsure of anything anymore.

As Ben set the cards, one of the girls came behind him to massage him. He could feel her naked breasts pressed on his back and the thought of Rey flickered across his mind. He forced himself not to wince in front of Hux. It was not the time to be distracted.

He tried to ignore the stripper but the woman was clearly into him. 

“Would you like me to sit on your lap?”

The first round was ready to be played. Ben did not look up at first, thinking his options through. Hux beat him to speaking however.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, _indulge_ the man. Get on! _Sit!_ ”

The stripper willingly did so, her eyes raking Ben as Ben forced himself to let her in. She circled her hands around him and caressed his focused face as the game went on. If anything, she was quite pleased with her position. At first the stripper merely watched the men play from Ben’s lap. But not even a round into the game and she was laving at his neck. A minute later, she worked up the gall to dare turn his head by a fraction and smack a kiss on the tip of his lip.

Ben finally looked at her. Her lips were naturally swollen and it looked like it had been used for many different things already.

“You’re blocking my view.”

It was hard to tell if she was too daft to realise the dissatisfaction in his voice. She merely smirked and huffed a breath. 

“I could give you a better one, darling.” 

The blonde bombshell pressed against his crotch which made Ben look down. She wore nothing but a thin lace panty, just like the other girls. 

When he looked back at her, the smirk on her face only widened much to his displeasure. He refused to show it in front of Hux. The stripper, on the other hand, seemed pleased with what she thought she had achieved. 

After a moment’s worth of thinking, he set his cards down and took her skinny waist. It was not Rey he was touching. The thought of her face distracted him and he begrudgingly pushed thoughts of her away. 

The men looked up at Ben’s sudden departing. Hux was too engrossed to keep his attention away from the game for too long.

“I’ll have to excuse myself.”

“Don’t worry. Enjoy a good fuck, Ben. It’ll be my pleasure as business partners.”

Ben nodded at Hux, ignored Lando and Poe’s stare and made to stand without letting go of the stripper. It was difficult not to anyway. She clung and pressed herself to him with such hunger in her eyes. What she did not realise however, was him pulling out his gun whilst using her body to hide it from any prying eyes. 

Before anyone knew it, three of the guards standing at the corner were shot dead.

“What _the fuck?_ ” Hux looked up and saw the bloody mess. Poe took his turn to pull his gun out and aim it at him by time Hux scrambled to face his own at Ben.

“Guard the doors, Uncle.”

“You fuckin’ _shit_.” 

Ben was not one to play games. He took the whore to shield him, holding her shoulders firmly at his hold as she gasped to be released. His gun pressed to her neck. She made to scream but he threatened to shoot her anyway if she would not keep silent. 

“I know your men did it, Hux,” Ben said, not a hint of uncertainty in his voice. His eyes narrowed down at the redhead with a murderous glimmer. “Because of what you did, my father’s at the edge of his life now and I’m not happy about that.”

“Solo, you are mistaken.”

But the facade was a temporary one. When Hux made to shoot, Ben was quick to pull the stripper as a cover and Poe tackled him to the ground. The offending gun discarded away. The stripper's limp, naked body fell from Ben’s hold and he let her drop to the floor. A lifeless form with a pool of crimson emerging from beneath.

A pitiful sight but he could not be bothered. The other remaining women cried but dared not to scream as they huddled at the corners of the room.

As Poe restrained Hux and Lando kept guard of the doors and the women, Ben set his gun on the table. He pulled a hand down his face, clearly shaken too as he tried to regain his resolve. Taking a step forward to where Hux was held down to his chair, he wielded out his knife. 

“I know you want that drug trade so badly. You’re _desperate,_ Hux _,_ ” he said, his voice cool and collected like he was about to tell a story. “You think of us as foolish fucks. So let me correct you on that, my friend.”

He saw the way Hux’s eyes widened in anticipation as he kept his mouth clenched. He would not want to give Ben the satisfaction of his fear. But Ben knew him all too well already.

“We see the money behind narcotics as you do. Unfortunately for _you_ , you didn’t think so and thought of us as ignorant fools. Which was stupid on your part really.” Ben played with the knife, eyeing it as it glistened under the light. “I’m afraid our family’s _ignorance_ does not extend to our sense of politics.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t care.” He slashed the knife unto his thigh with a riveting sound and the redhead howled in agony. Poe muffled him as Ben dragged the knife just a bit further down. He then let go, pleased with the sight of it dug deep in his muscle.

“Next time you make a move on the Resistance, I’m taking your life—whether _you_ planned the attack or not.”

“You _killed my men_.”

“I really can’t give a fuck.”

“Well you should.” Hux spat blood. His angry stare burning through Ben. “You violated the truce.”

Ben made to retort that they had been provoked but Hux did not let him. 

“—You have no evidence against any of our men coming at you that night. But _I do_. My witnesses will attest to your coming here and making a scene.” A taunting smirk grew on his face. He did not miss the flicker of realisation in his guest’s eyes.

Ben recovered quickly as he took his gun back and held it against the redhead’s forehead.He shivered beneath it evidently. “Gives me more reason to kill you now then. I might as well, right?”

“Ben,” Lando finally intruded. It was uncertain whether he made to stop Ben from worsening the damage done already. “Let him be a warning sign to all. We’ve gotten what we need.”

“And what is that?” Ben spat, eyes not leaving Hux’s as anger rose in his chest.

It was not enough. Driving a knife down Hux’s knee was nothing to what they did to their home. To his father. To Rey.

_Rey_. 

The horror of his realisation only grew. Poe and Lando’s voices of reason drowned out amidst his running thoughts. His mind flickered to the dead stripper’s body in an instant. 

What would Rey think? Of what he has done? She would be revolted.

_She would leave him._

“You fucking tell your friends to think _twice_ about laying another finger on the Resistance. Consider our partnership in Nevada settled for compensation.” He lowered his gun down and finally turned away.

His back was turned to Hux, he was supposed to be walking out of the room feeling victorious that evening. So why was it that his mortal enemy, still strapped to his chair, was the one laughing maniacally instead? Without a second’s hesitation, Ben Solo’s alter ego took over and shot one of the living strippers just when they reached the door to leave. 

It did the job of silencing Hux once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be much longer, to include Rey. However, I have decided to break it into different chapters because of tone. And also because I am currently overseas to attend weddings, so I cannot promise that my updates will be quick enough as before. But I am truly excited for this story to unfold for you guys to read!
> 
> In relation to the Godfather trilogy, this chapter was written to parallel both the shooting of McCluskey and Sollozzo in the first film and the scene when Michael visits his brother Fredo and Moe Greene in the second film. Ben however might have seemed less conflicted and perturbed as Michael had shown in the first film initially --this is entirely up to your interpretation however.
> 
> I hope you guys liked this one. Please do not forget to leave your mark here if you! Kudos and comments are truly a joy to read and an inspo-burst to write finish this quickly :)
> 
> Come say hi @reylomami on Tumblr too! 
> 
> x


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